Coco Gauff’s $3M Legacy Initiative Supports Tennis Players Attending HBCUs
Coco Gauff at the 2023 DC Open. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
American tennis star Coco Gauff—who recently won 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 against Jessica Pegula in the opening match of the WTA Finals on Nov. 8—has donated $250,000 to UNCF over two years to create the Coco Gauff Scholarship Program, supporting tennis players attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). UNCF’s youngest major gift donor aims to help more young people access higher education and tennis.
“Supporting tennis, especially women or people of color in tennis, is something that is super important to me and HBCUs in general,” Gauff shared on a Nov. 2 Zoom call, where she met recipients of her UNCF tennis scholarship. “Tennis is often an underfunded sport, particularly within these institutions.”
In 2023, at age 19, Gauff became the youngest American woman to win the US Open Tennis Championships since Serena Williams in 1999. After her US Open victory, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) committed $3 million (matching her prize money award) to improve public tennis facilities nationwide. This investment in public courts will transform communities across America. Gauff began her journey on public courts in Delray Beach, FL.
Gauff met with nine recipients of the Coco Gauff Scholarship Program, including three students from UNCF-member institutions:
- DeCora Antoine, sophomore business administration and management major at Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
- Brandy Alexis Babcock-Hannah, junior criminology major at Coppin State University
- Iyana Barber, senior mass communications and media studies major at Winston-Salem State University
- Brooklyn Bowen, senior forensic science and technology major at Albany State University
- Ksheria Briggins, sophomore computer and information systems and security/auditing/information assurance major at UNCF-member institution Edward Waters University
- Patrick Gregory, senior business management, marketing and related support services major at UNCF-member institution Benedict College
- Iyana Nickens, senior psychology major at Winston-Salem State University
- Jalaya Shaw, senior biology and biological sciences major at UNCF-member institution Bethune-Cookman University
- Shawn Yon, senior business administration and management major at Howard University
Tennis champion Coco Gauff met several recipients of her HBCU tennis scholarship, in partnership with UNCF, over Zoom.
Gauff shared her commitment to supporting tennis at HBCUs as well as women and people of color in tennis. She encouraged the student-athletes to trust their training and allow their bodies and minds time to adjust to a higher level of competition.
While Gauff did not attend college, choosing instead to focus on her professional tennis career, she has strong family ties to HBCUs. Her father attended Delaware State University and her grandmothers, aunts, uncles and cousins attended HBCUs. One of her cousins, Cassidy Lowe, graduated last May from UNCF-member institution Dillard University, where she played for the Blue Devils basketball team.
The scholarship recipients expressed appreciation and gratitude to Gauff and UNCF.
“I’m really happy to be able to have the resources to be able to support, and I know you know tennis is an expensive sport,” Gauff said. “I just want to make tennis as accessible as possible for everyone.”